What is Hinduism?

And is Yoga is a Hindu practice?

To fully understand these questions, one needs to delve deeply into history more than what is possible here, however this is a brief summary.

Human origins are not very accurately known, however there are genetic similarities between peoples of South Africa, South India and the Australian Aboriginals suggesting that there is a common ancestry dating back more than 70,000 years. However in the Vedas, (a collection of ancient Indian texts), there is a description of constellations in our night sky that by modern scientific analysis could only have been made 100,000 years ago.

In 75 BC there was what is known as the Toba eruption in Java, this huge volcano deposited a thick layer of volcanic ash over parts of the eastern Indian subcontinent. Underneath this ash there is evidence of human habitation and a civilisation possibly more advanced than elsewhere on the planet.

Step forwards to approximately 14,000 BC when Shiva the Adi Yogi (the first Yogi) revealed the science of yoga to a group of followers. When they had gained a deep understanding of yoga, they were sent to the corners of the earth and it is recorded that one travelled to South America, another went into Southeast Asia, another to Africa, another to the Middle East and one to South India.

If we step forwards to 3000 BC, sailors from India were circumnavigating the globe. They explored and traded, but they did not attempt to colonise or even capitalize on the land and people. But they shared their wisdom and knowledge. We know this because they have left their legacy across the world. India gave us the tools of mathematics, astronomy and science. India was the first country to produce steel and remains the only country where Mercury can be made solid.

“In the 18th/ 19th century, when Vedic knowledge reached Europe, the intellectual elite there was greatly impressed. This had two effects:
1. The influence of the Church went down and
2. scientific progress was made in a big way (inspired by Vedic knowledge).

Those elite Europeans did not consider Vedic wisdom as a religion, but as wisdom, philosophy. Voltaire, who was in the forefront of fighting the Church called the Vedas the greatest gift to mankind for which “we are eternally indebted to India”. Then suddenly the term “Hinduism” showed up (instead of Vedic knowledge), and Hinduism was seen as a religion and immediately associated with a divisive caste system with the Brahmins as villains.” ~ Maria Wirth

It is from the practice of yoga and the desire to know the truth of life that the country we know today as India came into being. It is a country founded on tolerance, understanding and wisdom, but above all the nature of the country has been shaped by a very profound reverence for life referred to as “Sanatana Dharma”.

On the surface, India was a collection of kingdoms but all the land from Afghanistan to Myanmar (Burma) was known as Bharat to the inhabitants and Hindustan by the British. This nation survived invasions and migrations, but the totalitarian beliefs of the Islamic immigrants caused the deaths of many millions of the indigenous population.

India is a name coined by the British and the British wrote an Indian history to suit their agenda. They also invented the words Hindu and Hinduism. The British with some help from the French and Portuguese divided up the country. They separated Afghanistan and Burma, and then to try and fix the mess they created, the land was further partitioned with the formation of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The great land known as Bharat (that some researchers think stretched from the Mediterranean to the Pacific) was forever changed and such was the power of the British in India, they were able to convince the population that they were Hindus. It is thought that the British occupation cost more than 100 million Indian lives and in the uprising against the British in the late 1850s, the British slaughtered between six and 10 million people in retaliation, a fact that is ignored by our education systems.

While Europe was at war with itself, India and China were flourishing civilisations with relatively peaceful societies where life was celebrated. India had great universities that housed tens of thousands of students and when the British arrived, the standard of living and level of education exceeded anything in Europe.

What we refer to today as Hindu and Hinduism was invented by the British as was the name of the country. The British raped and pillaged, and the very wealth and sustenance of the British Empire came from the exploitation of India, and to a lesser extent China.

Those whith British roots are very proud of the old Empire but few ever knew how it came into being and the costs imposed on great civilisations. The imposition of British will over India included the rewriting of Indian history by men who had never been to India.

The British imposed their will at the point of the gun and the threat of genocide and India was subjugated so much so that even today only a minority of Indians know this history. They have absorbed the British line that they accept that they are Hindus and their religion is Hinduism although they don’t believe in any one God.

Despite the terror and injustice that has been heaped upon India, despite the fact that the population has been brainwashed by British propaganda, and whether or not the people of India believe they are Hindus, at heart their culture remains focused on open enquiry into the nature of life and a celebration of life.

Hinduism is a myth created by the British and yoga predates the country of Bharat or Hindustan by at least 10,000 years, but the understandings and practices referred to as Hinduism are influenced by yoga and yoga in turn is influenced by the wealth of knowledge and appreciation of life that the people of India continue to share with the world.

The names we hear associated with India and Hinduism like Shiva, Ganesh, Devi and Lakshmi are seen by some people as gods or deities, but these characters were actual people who once lived and developed such divine qualities, they are forever revered. In fact the people of India venerate thousands of such gods and deities but they do not believe in them in the same way that Christians and Muslims believe in their gods.

It is abundantly clear that not only is Yoga not a Hindu practice, Hinduism itself is a myth created for social control and financial gain. These truths are finally emerging and the movement is underway in India to rename the country Bharatha.